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It's obviously more of a spending problem. And the main problem is the party in charge doesn't want to curb spending because money money money. Both parties are more than happy to make the other look like the bad guy instead of actually managing the spending problem. It's easy enough to make it look like they are doing everything they can to cut back til it hurts but those guys make unreasonable compromises.

I've been saying this all along. It's politicians in general. When we can get more folks in office that are really in touch with voters and care about the well-being of the country, only then can we breathe a sigh of relief. Until then our jimmies shall stay rustled.

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"You are free to make choices. You are not free to escape the consequences."

Tax receipts as a percentage of GDP are well below the historical average for the past 60ish years. The SS tax break was meant to be temporary, so you can complain that it's a sinister tax increase, but it was a return a level that was normal during the prior years.

The revenue vs GDP charts take a sharp downturn only in 2009-present - I surmise from the sharp drop in revenue from the unemployment and reduction in consumer spending. Oddly, GDP continued to rise in the last 4 years. I guess our exports are flourishing. But you bring up a point which (IMO) exemplifies that our problem is more spending than revenue. Spending as a percentage of GDP over the last 50+ years follows an upward trend (whereas revenue vs GDP is fairly constant). We keep spending more.